Letters to the Editor
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MereMortal - You may want to re-examine the conventional wisdom about Middle East History
You are right in that most Americans are sympathetic toward Israel, based on their perceptions of its history.
However, research by the "new Israeli historians" such as Ilan Pappe, Tom Segev and Benny Moris, based on the archives of the Israeli army (and the pre-army Jewish militias) has shown that much of this history is little more than propaganda.
For example, prior to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, there was a massive violent process of ethnic cleasing of Palestinians - including many massacres by terrorist gangs such as those led by Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin to "encourage" Palestinians to leave to create a state with a Jewish majority. Also, contrary to common belief, the Israeli army in 1948 was numerically superior and better equipped than the Arab armies combined (most of which were still under colonial rule) so Israel's existence was not in jeopardy. Also the 1967 war -again contrary to common belief- was initiated by a pre-emptive strike on Egypt which had no intent in attacking Israel according to senior Israeli military sources at the time (I can provide references).
Now that the stakes are too high for America with what is going on in Iraq, it is time to closely examine these and some of the other "modern myths" about Israel. You may want to read the landmark essay "the Israel Lobby" published by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt for the London Review of Books (you can download it from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011/$File/rwp_06_011_walt.pdf